The anatomical design of a human trunk or core is key to posture, performance, and prevention of injury/illness/disease. As shown in FIGS. 1-3, a loss of lean body mass 12, coupled with weight gain, particularly in the trunk 14, is known to result in changes in posture and abnormal weight bearing in critical areas of a skeleton 16. Specifically, these critical areas are at a base of a neck 18 (cervicothoracic junction), at a base of a lower back 20 (lumbosacral junction), and at an anterior (front) aspect of a shoulder 22 (impingement).
Over time, such losses and changes in the lean body mass 12 and posture create overload syndromes to the skeleton 16 and related anatomical structures therein. This results in swelling, pain and physical dysfunction. To combat weight gain and loss of physical performance around the trunk area, individuals turn to core exercises to strengthen these muscles. Hence, individuals most often perform multiple different types of exercises, to include all muscles within the abdominal area. This has diverse results and often ineffective for strengthening all portions of the abdominal mechanism.
The abdominal mechanism connects the back part of the neck to the inner thighs of the legs, where the interconnection of muscles and fascia serve to stabilize the trunk that sustains an individual's anti-gravity posture. This interconnection is termed “The Serape Effect,” which is symbolized by object 24 in FIG. 2. The shape of the object 24 illustrates that multiple muscle groups throughout the human body 10 work in a flexing manner. Prominently, there are six muscle groups that pull on a central “canvas” 26 of the body 10, which are illustrated in FIG. 3. Specifically, these are pectoralis major (PM), serratus anterior (SA), external oblique (EO), internal oblique (IO), transversus abdominus (TA), and femoral adductors (FA).
Currently, there are many exercise devices available to people who are interested in posture, human performance, and prevention of injury/illness/disease, which are based on torsion. Some of these exercise devices involve springs separated by handles. FIG. 4 illustrates a known exercise device 30, which comprises several springs 32 separated by an attached first handle 34 and an attached second handle 36. A user, not shown, grasps the first handle 34 with one hand and grasps the second handle 36 with the other hand. At that point, the springs 32 hang limply between the two handles 34, 36.
To begin using the exercise device 30, the user stretches his/her arms away from each other, while firmly gripping the handles 34, 36, thereby stretching the springs 32 in an arcing stretched pattern (not shown). At a certain point of extension of the springs 32, the user allows the springs 32 to compress to their initial non-extended position. Typically, this cycle of extension of the springs 32, followed by allowing the springs 32 to compress, is repeated for several repetitions. In so doing, the user's hands and limbs do not cooperate in a manner to exercise all of the primary muscle groups PM, SA, EO, IO, TA, and FA in his/her body, in a coordinated fashion.
There is a continuing need for an exercise device to provide thorough and direct resistance to all of the primary muscle groups PM, SA, EO, IO, TA, and FA, to improve a user's postural stability, along with performance, and provide a more thorough prevention of injury/illness/disease. Desirably, such an exercise device is easy to use and address the movement patterns of standing, sitting, and/or lying positions. The device must further be easily usable in rehabilitation, for outpatients or more debilitated patients who might sit most of a day and primarily use wheel chairs.